Illustration of a stethoscope.

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SYSPEO / SIPA

  • “You have a child up to nine months old and then you say, this is no longer my project.

    And there, at that time, we believe that you have the right to kill this child in the mother's womb, ”explained Michel Onfray on the France 2 set on Saturday evening.

    • The philosopher was referring to an amendment relating to the medical termination of pregnancy (IMG), which differs from the voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion).

    • Medical act, the IMG can be practiced until the ninth month, but only on decision of a college of professionals and in specific situations.

Denouncing the fabrication of a "transhumanist civilization", the philosopher Michel Onfray wrongly pointed out a right to abortion which would allow women to terminate their pregnancy until the ninth month without conditions.

“There is a law, you know, that was passed between July 31 and August 1, which makes it possible to abort children who are nine months old.

It's called infanticide, he launched Saturday evening on the set of

We are live

, on France 2. That's it, being progressive?

Imagine that when this child no longer corresponds to your project, that is to say that a child is not a child, it is a project, and since you have the right to change the project whenever you want, like you want.

You have a child up to nine months old and then you say, this is no longer my project.

And there, at that moment, it is considered that you have the right to kill this child in the womb of the mother.

"

The writer resumed a controversy that was born last summer, about an amendment to the bioethics bill.

FAKE OFF

This bill has not yet been definitively adopted and therefore does not have the force of law.

Michel Onfray was referring to an amendment adopted by the deputies on August 1.

This amendment specifies the conditions for resorting to medical termination of pregnancy (IMG).

Unlike the voluntary termination of pregnancy (abortion), which is performed at the sole request of the woman and cannot be performed beyond the twelfth week of pregnancy, the IMG is performed without delay when the health of the mother or child is in danger.

It is performed "if the pregnancy seriously endangers the pregnant woman" or "if there is a strong probability that the unborn child will be affected by a condition of particular gravity recognized as incurable at the time of diagnosis. », Develops Health insurance.

Contrary to what the philosopher explained, the IMG is therefore not practiced on the sole will of the mother or parents.

It must be validated by a multidisciplinary team of medical specialists and additional examinations may be necessary to rule on the state of health of the mother or child.

"Clarify the legal framework"

The amendment adopted on August 1 specifies that a “psychosocial distress” putting in “serious danger” the mother can justify the practice of an IMG.

It clarifies a law of 2001, explained the National College of French Gynecologists and Obstetricians in a press release from October 2019.

Why add such precision to the law?

"We too often see questions and differences of interpretation on the advisability of taking into account psychosocial distress among the causes of serious danger justifying the realization of an IMG, detail the deputies authors of the proposal.

It is therefore necessary to clarify the legal framework in which the medical college delivers its opinion on the advisability of carrying out this act.

"

“Unequal” care across the region

The CNGOF adds for its part that "the psycho-social IMG is currently poorly known in the services of gynecology-obstetrics" and that the care of these patients "is unequally distributed on the national territory".

This medical act “concerns women in a situation of personal danger, violence, major psychological difficulties or extreme precariousness, making it impossible to continue their pregnancy even though they exceed the legal deadline for abortion of 14 weeks. 'amenorrhea'.

Gynecologists add that some women then turn to "travel abroad for termination of pregnancy, harmful to health, expensive or even inaccessible for some women".

"Measure the degree of distress"

Professor Israel Nisand, ex-president of the CNGOF, adds that receiving these women “does not in any way presume” the choice of the medical team to follow up or not to IMG's request.

However, this approach allows “the teams to measure the degree of distress, which does not take place when hospital structures immediately reject women who have exceeded the legal deadline for abortion,” he defends.

This amendment is not unanimous among the deputies.

The rapporteur of the bill was cautious during the debates on the text.

For Jean-François Eliaou, "the problem is not the law, but the practice".

"Obviously, the psychosocial IMG is [...] too little known in the services of gynecology-obstetrics, but it is not by law that this situation will be corrected", specifies the deputy LREM.

The elected representative also wonders about the choice to "list this single reason for IMG, and not others": "What will happen if this danger results from a purely psychological cause, and not psychosocial?

How exactly to define psychosocial causes?

A bill tabled in October already aims to remove this amendment, while the bioethics bill has not yet been adopted in its final version.

In 2016, 7,366 certificates with a view to performing an IMG were issued - which is not the number of IMGs actually performed, specified the Biomedicine Agency in 2017. “The majority of certificates were issued to the first two. trimesters of pregnancy, adds the Agency.

Only 13.9% of certificates were issued in the third quarter ”.

This distribution “has remained substantially constant since 2012”.

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